A little over a week later, Ryu found himself deep within the forest depths that separated the Outer and Inner Ring. Sensing for a bit, his body suddenly disappeared. When his vision finally, cleared, he was within the depths of the Death Worm Immortal Cave.
Having exploited the Loom Clan into buying much of the precious resources he needed to repair the Immortal Cave back into working condition, Ryu suddenly felt a slight wave of guilt. This wasn't actually because of his exploitation of them, but rather because he had found even better resources while clearing the Mortal Qi Small Realm out.
Obviously, as the Immortal Cave of a Path Extinction Realm expert, the resources one could find in a mere Inner Ring weren't enough to bring it back to perfect working condition. What Ryu had actually wanted to do was to hold it together for long enough for its self-repair functions to kick in, similar to giving the Immortal Cave a jumpstart.
But now…
Ryu entered the core of the Immortal Cave. With a wave of his hand, seven pulsing lights appeared, spinning around one each with a pattern the inexplicably left one dazed.
If others knew Ryu was using seven Qi Sources to power a mere Lower Heaven Grade Immortal Cave, they'd probably spit up blood in rage. However, Ryu hardly cared. He didn't have some holy cultivation land to give these Qi Sources to. Since this Death Worm Immortal Cave would be his abode for now, there was no problem using the Qi Sources in this way.
The best part about this solution was that he no longer had to worry about powering the Death Worm. Qi Sources could absorb energy far faster than humans could cultivate. Even Ryu was lacking in comparison to them despite his Bone Structure. So, energy was obviously no longer an issue.
However, though this was the case, by Ryu's estimates, the Immortal Cave would only have about seventy percent of its full strength. This wasn't a matter of energy quantity, but rather, energy quality.
At the end of the day, the seven Qi Sources were only of the Mortal Grade. Though, luckily, they were infinitely close to the Immortal Grade.
'You feel bad?' Ailsa asked with a light smile, still hiding away from Ryu's foul smell.
"Even if the Loom Clan falls behind a bit now, with Matheus and what I imparted to Taedra, their rise is inevitable. Matheus alone would be able to bring them out himself in just a few more decades. With Taedra's aid, it's already set in stone."
'Taedra, hm?' Ailsa pouted with a slight hint of jealousy.
"She's a decent talent. Reaching the peak of the Path Extinction Realm in a few millennia won't be impossible. But, crossing into the Dao Pedestal Realm will likely be a trial that blocks her for life.
"There's nothing to feel bad about. I only acted in accordance with my own conscience."
'I see…' Ailsa said lightly.
Not everything was so black and white. Ryu acted against the Ember Clan, but their Elder was still valiant in protecting their younger generation. He acted against the Loom Clan, but only their City Lord was guilty.
'… Well, you should still be cautious. Now, not only have your Heavenly Pupils been exposed, but you did tell Taedra you true name. She would likely be greatly rewarded by those so-called Apostles if she were to divulge this information.'
The Apostles… It wasn't a Title Ryu had heard until recently. He was completely unaware of the matters that occurred with Molly and grandfather back in Valor City. However, within Looming City, he heard many ramblings. Amongst them, he constantly heard mention of these Apostles. Apparently, they were the ones overseeing the final selections for entry into the Ice Devil Legacy World.
Ryu's gaze flashed with a piercing killing intent as he thought about that day at the Mercenary Guild.
Shaking his head, he threw things to the back of his mind. Currently, there was just a single year left until the eclipse. Considering his current wealth, the price was no longer a problem even with the vast improvement in his cultivation realm.
The smart thing to do would probably be to silently return to the Awoken Moon Sect and wait out the final period while cultivating in peace. However, Ryu didn't even consider doing such a thing.
Most of the dangerous situations Ryu got himself into were done on purpose by him. He wanted to experience more trials, more tribulations. He didn't want to bury his head in the sand and just struggle to survive. He needed to grow stronger!
With so many enemies gathering in the Core Region, this was the last opportunity to temper himself in his home Realm before left to the Moon Realm. He would go not because it was smart, and not even in order to get revenge, but rather to push himself to his limits.
Feeling that the Death Worm was quickly repairing itself, Ryu left the control room and entered one of the many training rooms before finally taking out the odd prayer mat.
Over the last week, Ryu had focused on nothing but healing himself with the help of Ailsa and many of the precious herbs he had gathered. To a genius like him, hidden injuries could be disastrous, so Ailsa took care to force him to focus on nothing else but healing his body. As a consequence, he wasn't able to take a good look at what he risked his life for until now.
The prayer mat was far thicker than normal, being about an inch and a half to two inches in height. Its width was about two meters while its length was nearly three. With such a size, it was less of a prayer mat and more of a thin mattress.
It had a deep, rich brown color to its that radiated a darkish gold. Its embroidery was absolute exquisite, they seemed simple on the surface, but even Ryu's eyes got lost trying to follow their patterns, a matter that was shocking considering his first ranked Heavenly Pupils.
"You said that you think this prayer mat might be related to Focus Qi?" Ryu asked with a furrowed brow.
'I believe so…'
"But when I first came into contact with it, it actually had the complete opposite effect."
'This is true, but the proof is already right before you. You know well you shouldn't have had enough Focus Qi to last so long without at least having a dip in performance. Plus, scanning a thousand-kilometer radius is still far beyond your current self even if your Spiritual Sense can, yet you did it.'
Ryu sighed. "How much longer until my Immortal Body is complete?"
'It seems like the impurity purge is slowing down. So, likely by the end of this week.'
"Good… Then I guess I'll spend this time trying to see what I can glean from this mat…"